Tag: Our Serenity Prayer

O’ My Soul, Never Give Up! ALWAYS BELIEVE! There is always hope! God is always there to uphold Us! Psalm 22:1-2

 I wonder how many times you and I have been let down by someone we know.

People understand well the term and implications behind the word: betrayal.

There are many people who promise us that they will stand by us, no matter what comes our way.

They say, ‘we have your back so do not worry, we will be right behind you’.

However, when trouble strikes, armed with that promise of support, many of them end up so far behind us that we cannot see them, even with a telescope!

We are constantly being left behind and hurt by those we believe we should be able to trust with quite literally everything which we hold dearest to our souls.

But when we are shocked, hurt and feeling betrayed by those we are closest to, sometimes even from within our own families – parents, children, and siblings, and spouses, the shock value, the hurt soar to completely indescribable levels.

When it reaches such an intimate and deeply personal level, there is that inner most feeling of.

“My trust is completely shattered.”

“I absolutely believe that in this exact moment I have no one to turn to!”

“What do I do now?”

“This is way too intimate, way too personal to tell anyone!”

“Who would ever understand what is going on within me?”

Is there any greater sense of loneliness that anyone can feel than this?

18-year-old stranger drives three hours to a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. In a state of greatest rage against a class of people with different colored skin, they park their car, get out and start shooting, then they enter the store —

18-year-old teenager gets mad at his mother over Wi-Fi, leaves the house, then drives away, crashes their car into an Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — A classroom filled with fourth graders, their teachers, is suddenly shot to pieces.

Yes humanity!

As only God knows and all of humanity surely and certainly dreads,

There is always a worse kind of inconceivable pain and anguish, of a souls’ indescribable betrayal, of utterly shattered trust and undefinable loneliness.

Who dares now to enter into this indescribable, inconceivable whirlwind?

Who has answers to all of the questions, both ponderable and imponderable?

Where to turn in the search for truth and trust?

Who to wise enough for us to ultimately turn to for truth and trust?

Psalm 22:1-2 Amplified Bible

A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar (The Doe of the Dawn). A Psalm of David.

22 [a]My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
2 
O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

King David was incredibly sad when he wrote this psalm, wasn’t he?

He was telling God that he felt completely alone. He felt like he couldn’t find God anywhere. He cried out in desperation, but God didn’t seem to answer.

Have you and I or literally everybody else we know ever felt like that? 

Sometimes we are sad beyond our own capability to sufficiently express, maybe we do not trust those around us with our very deepest, most intimate thoughts.

When we are in that place where we are sure no one else can understand exactly what is going on in our hearts and in our souls, but also know we cannot keep it to ourselves because it is too powerful, overwhelming to sufficiently contain.

When we even in that place, question whether or not to dare to tell God about it.

Psalm 22 gives us words to unleash on our own when we feel God is not nearby.

We uncontrollably unleash upon any unsuspecting soul, Psalm 22:1-2 with a measure of trust and certainty that “we do not care who hears it, but we know from deep within the deepest places of our souls, there is someone who cares deeply enough to actually respond because our words have not scared them off.

When a person expresses their saddest feelings to God, that’s called a “lament.”

Psalm 22 is a lament.

Psalm 22 teaches us something else, though, about talking to God.

Read a few more verses—Psalm 22:3-5:

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame

In these verses David switches from telling God about his great sadness to remembering that God is great. God helped his ancestors.

David reminds God how others were saved when they trusted in God.

Perhaps David is remembering when Israel trusted God to save them from their enemies. Perhaps he is thinking of stories that you and I know too—stories about Ruth and Boaz, stories about Gideon and Joshua or Abraham and Isaac. Maybe David is remembering how God helped him defeat the giant Goliath.

Whatever he is thinking of, David quickly moves from sadness to praise. As we will see when we read more of this psalm, David isn’t done being sad, but he comes to God with two things on his mind: how sad he is and how good God is.

We can tell our sorrows to God too, but, like David, we should also remember how great God is. We can talk to God about our sorrows because we know that he listens to us. Isn’t it beyond great that we can talk to God about anything?

We can affirm our faith in the faithfulness of our God.

We can affirm our faith in the steadfast presence of His Son Jesus.

We can affirm our faith in the constancy of Holy Spirits intercession,

My own personal affirmation of faith in such times is from John 1:1-5

John 1:1-5Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word ([a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and [b]the Word was God Himself. 2 He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. 3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. 4 In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines on in the [c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

In spite of all questions, answerable and imponderable, YES! I Believe…!

I believe in the living God, the Creator and complete truth of the universe,

  who is the pulse and purpose of all things seen and unseen,

  who from the dust of earth calls up living beings to be children of eternity,

  who through countless ages has provided for us many liberators

  and tirelessly seeks to bring victory out of defeat and life out of decay.

I believe in Jesus the Christ, the Resurrected, God’s ONLY true Son,

  who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,

  who took upon himself the healing of the human race,

  who bearing the burden of our sins went to Golgotha carrying his cross,

  who was betrayed, crucified, dead and buried in a borrowed tomb,

  who on the third day was found to be gloriously alive,

  meeting with those who trust him and serve him to the end of the world.

I believe in the Holy Spirit of God,

  within and among all who cherish Christ and his way,

  who brings hope out of despair, love out of apathy, and joy out of sorrow,

  who unceasingly regenerates and reforms the church

  that it may always be the contemporary body of the risen Christ,

  loving the world through prayer, word and deed.

I believe that even I am caught up in the resurgent life of Christ Jesus,

  and that nothing in life or death can separate me from his love and joy.

In spite of unanswered, imponderable questions, YES! I believe.

YES! I BELIEVE!

I believe in truth as a living Reality,

not captured in theory or a creed,

but revealed to those who love;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! Because I believe I trust,

not blindly but open eyed and bold

as a child climbing into a mother’s lap;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! Because I believe I serve,

not as a slave that serves a tyrant

but like farmers reaping a harvest;

the truth of Jesus,

the Spirit of truth,

the truth of God.

YES! I BELIEVE

God is big enough to hear about our biggest hurts and our deepest sorrows.

He wants us to tell him everything

YES! I BELIEVE God is faithful!

God is trustworthy!

God is true!

YES! I BELIEVE

We can trust his promises to be kept and his purposes to be good.

How do we know?

Because from the very beginning of all things, God spoke and God Created;

The sunrise each morning is a reminder that the Father of heaven and earth is at forever and ever at work diligently keeping His universe in working order.

If it is true in nature, (Psalm 19:1-2) it is true in the spiritual realm as well.

Greet each new beginning, each sunrise as a reminder of God’s faithfulness.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, Builder and Creator of all things, I know that when I acknowledge your authority and your power that you will make my paths straight in front of me.

Please empower me to live a greater life in Christ. May your Holy Spirit who lives in me draw me closer to you. Give me a mind of understanding. Let me see as you see, and not as the world sees. I trust your judgment fully and know that my own judgment is limited. I believe you have everything in control, and you will guide me exactly where you want me to go. Gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Our Other Serenity Prayer: You have said, “Seek MY face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I Seek.” — Psalms 27:8 (ESV)

Prayer for Serenity

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

                                            Reinhold Niebuhr

Psalm 27:4-8 Names of God Bible

4 I have asked one thing from Yahweh.
    This I will seek:
    to remain in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life
        in order to gaze at Yahweh’s beauty
            and to search for an answer in his temple.
5 He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble.
    He keeps me hidden in his tent.
    He sets me high on a rock.
6 Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me.
    I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent.
    I will sing and make music to praise Yahweh.
7 Hear, O Yahweh, when I cry aloud.
    Have pity on me, and answer me.
8 When you said,
    “Seek my face,”
        my heart said to you,
            “O Yahweh, I will seek your face.”[a]

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

There is something very tender and heartwarming about an all-powerful God urging us, mere humans to draw close to Him.  When we are drawing too close to ourselves and our own carefully manicured well shaven mirrored images. It is in this moment, these moments, when we subtly become most self-critical. It is the place where we do not feel the need or the want or desire to value ourselves.

When God is asking us to move our faces away from our mirrors, seek His face it is His desire for us to learn more of Him, swiftly and thoroughly discard those distorted self-images which separate us from the reality of God’s knowledge of us, from His greater character and His heart. This exposure, this focus on His face causes us to know who He is instead of what He can give. God yearns for fellowship with us and created mankind for this very purpose. His passion and desire for fellowship is fully evident when He calls us His children and friends.

Why should God have us to turn away from ourselves to ask us to seek His face? He is the one who created us in His image, who has woven us together inside our mother’s womb before our mom’s knew of our existence, gave us life and breath and blessed us abundantly. But He does ask us because that is His heart’s very deepest longing, against our fleshly desires, selfish, self-centered selves.  

If we are willing to turn our faces away from our carnival mirrors, to give God our Father greater sovereignty over our created image, He will place His desires within our hearts so that they would replace our own desires, so we walk closely with Him.  As we do, we are blessed abundantly just by being in His presence.  

He calls to our deepest places because He longs for intimacy. God is a God of covenant relationship and calls us away and unto a love encounter with Him.    

King David answered this love call with urgency. Nothing hindered their love for one another. There was no question David could be very hard on himself. David had a vast number of serious personal faults and failures. The Hebrew Testament is strewn with stories of failed fatherhood, adultery, criminality and nearly impossible to imagine levels of intrigue which alienated many from him. Many were the people who wanted no part of David’s character or personality. David could not avoid knowledge and awareness of them. David could not also avoid his own very deep, intimate feelings about Himself turning against him.

Are we ourselves any different from this biblical version of David, the man who God Himself declared to be the “Man after His own Heart?” Not one of us could ever stand up to the full weight of revelation should we genuinely unleash all of our personal mess against ourselves. There is no mirror we would not shatter! There is no tear we would not cry a thousand, thousand times over and over. It is inconceivable we would ever look at ourselves again, have anyone look at us.

But thanks be to God our Father, that we have such a promise from Psalm 27.

Something leaps high and mightily within me when I read how the heart of God responds to our cries and our pleas! In this passage, the first thing we see is the Psalmist acknowledging that the idea of seeking God’s face originated not with us but with God. God extends the invitation to all, but who will hear the cry of His heart and respond? My observation has been that while many acknowledge the face of God, few take time to wait for His presence and to listen to His voice.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “’Seek and keep on seeking and you will find’” (Matthew 7:7, AMP), which echoes the word of the prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, ESV). God absolutely wants to be found, and even absolutely guarantees our success, as long as we absolutely don’t dare give up.

I’ve often felt that God wants to be pursued by us, because that is a sign of our genuine love, so he doesn’t always make it easy to sense his presence and hear his voice. And it is not simply a matter of being a genuine sign of our love – there is something in our faith, hope, love-minded pursuit of God’s face that stirs our hearts to greater love, as long as we don’t let discouragement come in. All God desires to do a “face exchange and transplant.” His beauty for our ugly!

In Psalm 27, however, we see the reply of a willing soul, who responds from the depth of his or her being — from the heart. And from the heart of those weary arises the cry, “I am seeking, and will continue to seek until I find.” After such a pledge, the Psalmist struggles with some doubt, but eventually concludes that he will be successful, if he doesn’t give up: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalms 27:13-14, ESV).

Let us this day strive join our self-weary heart with the Psalmist’ words in his unwavering pursuit, not giving up until we have seen the face of God! There is also no question as to the intent of God’s request unto David and by the vast expansion of time and space and Scriptures. It is an open invitation from a Holy God and requires a response which is full of an absolute expectancy and desire.

Seeking someone else’s image in our mirrors because we are tired of our own, it should be far beyond exciting to seek God’s face and understand Him better.

He constantly gives us this invitation; He continually gives us this incredibly gracious choice so that we might come to see our relationship with Him as free and not like we’re puppets. Our desire for God must be sincere and passionate.

There ought to be nothing more on this earth more important than seeking over own God’s own face and desiring to know Him intimately. The Creator of the Universe created us in His image to share quality fellowship with Him. His love is this simple; His request is simpler………He is saying, “Just be with Me,” that’s all.

One of these days we will simply have to stop beating ourselves up over nothing. Someday we have to agree that it is God’s face alone which is staring back at us when we look into our bathroom or bedroom mirrors. Unto that day, O’ LORD!

Challenge: Seek God’s face. Feed your spirit in the Word.  Ask Him questions about who He is and ask Him to awaken in you a passionate desire to know Him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Faithful Father, thank you that your word revives my soul, gives wisdom to my mind and produces joy in my heart. Your word says that, if I abide in you, I will produce much fruit. Please help me to abide in you and experience your favor, you are able to do far more abundantly than all that I ask or imagine, according to the power at work within me. To you be glory throughout all our generations, forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Alleluia! Amen.

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